Facebook Hiatus – Taking a Break From Social Media

I finally did it. I acted on the idea that has been swirling in the back of my mind for more than a month now. I changed my profile picture, my cover photos, and my settings… and I quit facebook. For 30 days. You can probably imagine why I would feel the need to take a break from Facebook. You might even be reading this blog from your phone, from a place where the world is absolutely carrying on around you. Or, you could be in the bathroom. Can’t you be alone with your thoughts for even five minutes?

That’s the critique I gave myself, because I am on my phone, specifically on Facebook, CONSTANTLY. Quite literally (not figuratively), I check my phone first thing in the morning before I get out of bed. I’m not afraid to say that I bring my phone into the bathroom with me. Everyone does it. I check Facebook on the computer before I leave for work. I check it again as I’m in my car, before I even pull out of the stall. I check it after I park at work, just looking for something new that I might have missed. I check it during the work day–it’s almost constantly in the background. I check it in my car before I drive home from work, again in the parking spot at home, and then I migrate to my computer–and Jeff is on his–then we stare at our electronic devices in bed, then we kiss and fall asleep.

And why? There is figuratively nothing worth looking at on my social media feed. Good vs. evil, what state you should live in, what your vernacular says about you–and Buzzfeed! Gods, Buzzfeed. What a time suck.

What am I missing? Well, I don’t know–because it’s been this way for about a year or so. I’m missing spending QUALITY time with my husband, I know that for sure. I’m missing out on rich interactions with my friends because we’ve ‘interacted’ enough via facebook already that day. The depth of my relationships is getting shallower and shallower.

Aside from relationships, I’m also losing out on productivity at work. Do you think I can focus very well with Facebook taunting me in the backround? 3 new notifications! I must click them before I finish writing this e-mail. Oops, I hear footsteps, better alt+tab.

I’m missing out on nature. I try not to, but inevitably I’ll scroll through facebook while I’m out for a walk. Someone honked at me while I was out for a walk the other day and I assumed it was some jerk from the high school judging me again. Turns out, it was my neighbor. If I hadn’t had my nose buried in my phone, I could’ve waved at her in a friendly manner instead of throwing my hands out in exasperation and shouting “What?!” And for what? Another Grammarly update saying that people on the internet will still correct you if you make a typo.

So, I’m calling it quits–for 30 days. I want to WILL regain some of the depth to my most important relationships. I want to WILL be present in my day to day interactions. I want to WILL be more focused and productive at work.

I think that the hardest part of this challenge is that I am going to New York City in a few weeks. There will be brand new experiences–sights, sounds, friends, and photos that I’m sure I’ll be tempted to immediately upload onto social media. And selfies! Oh my goodness, the selfies. The thing is, though, before social media, I actually cherished my photos. I looked back on them, I printed them out, I scrap-booked them, and if you were a special friend, I’d print a copy for you too. Maybe I’d even put it in a really cute frame.

Just imagine how much more vibrant my memories will be if I can actually live and experience them rather than ‘capturing them for posterity Facebook.’

I imagine that I’ll just be more cognizant of my choices, take fewer photos, live more of my life than I put on the internet.

Have you ever taken a hiatus from social media? What did you take away from it?

P.S. I still plan to blog during this time, so don’t expect radio silence after I *just* got back ::wink::